After the bombardment of Fort Sumter,
South Carolina, and President Lincoln's call
for 75,000 volunteers, Virginia seceded on
April 17, 1861. At once, Virginia State
militia moved to secure the railroad assets,
musket factories, and the Federal armory and
arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Although Union
forces attempted to burn the facilities, most
of the rifle-musket manufacturing equipment
was salvaged and shipped south to bolster the
Confederate ordnance effort. Former VMI
professor Thomas J. Jackson assumed command
of a newly formed brigade at Harpers Ferry in
the spring and moved to consolidate
Confederate strength in the area. In July
1861, Confederate reinforcements traveled
from the Shenandoah Valley to Manassas
Junction on the Manassas Gap Railroad to
reach the fighting at Bull Run, marking the
first time in modern warfare that troops were
moved by train to a battlefield. On the
battlefield of Manassas, Jackson earned the
sobriquet "Stonewall.''
Although the remainder of the year saw
sporadic skirmishing and an engagement at
Falling Waters along the Potomac River, most
of the fighting during the summer and fall of
1861 occurred farther to the west. During
this time, Confederate forces gradually lost
political and military control of the
c ounties that would later be incorporated
into the new state of West Virginia. In
winter 1861-1862, Jackson conducted a
campaign against Union forces at Romney, West
Virginia.
Actions of 1862
Synopsis
Jackson's Valley Campaign (March-June 1862)
Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson's Valley Campaign
of 1862 is one of the most studied campaigns
of military history. This campaign
demonstrates how a numerically inferior force
can defeat larger forces by fast movement,
surprise attack, and intelligent use of the
terrain. In March 1862, as a Federal force
under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks began to
advance cautiously up the Valley, General
Jackson retreated to Mount Jackson where he
could defend the Valley Turnpike. His task
was two-fold--to prevent deep penetration
into the Valley and to tie down as many
opposing forces as possible. When he learned
that Banks was ready to detach part of his
force to assist the Army of the Potomac then
being concentrated on the Peninsula to
threaten Richmond, Jackson marched down the
Turnpike and fought the First Battle of
Kernstown on March 23.
Although defeated, Jackson's aggressive move
convinced Washington that Confederate forces
in the Valley posed a real threat to
Washington, and Maj. Gen. George B.
McClellan, with his army preparing to move on
Richmond, was denied reinforcements at a
critical moment in the Peninsular Campaign.
In late April, Jackson left part of his
enlarged command under Maj. Gen. Richard S.
Ewell at Swift Run Gap to confront Banks and
marched with about 9,000 men through Staunton
to meet a second Union army under Maj. Gen.
John C. Fremont, whose vanguard approached on
the Parkersburg Road from western Virginia.
Banks was convinced that Jackson was leaving
the Valley to join the Confederate army at
Richmond. But on May 8, Jackson turned up to
defeat two brigades of Fremont's force, under
Brig. Gens. Robert Milroy and Robert Schenck,
at McDowell. Although the Confederates
suffered more casualties than their
counterparts the Battle of McDowell was a
victory for the South.
After a short pursuit of the fleeing
Federals, Jackson abruptly turned and marched
swiftly back in the heart of the Valley to
unite with Ewell against Banks. On May 23,
Jackson overran a detached Union force at
Front Royal and advanced toward Winchester,
threatening to cut off the Union army that
was concentrated around Strasburg. After a
running battle on the 24th along the Valley
Turnpike from Middletown to Newtown (Stephens
City), Banks made a stand on the heights
south of Winchester. On May 25, Jackson
attacked and overwhelmed the Union defenders,
who broke and fled in a panic to the Potomac
River. Banks was reinforced and again started
up the Valley Turnpike, intending to link up
with Brig. Gen. James Shields's Union
division near Strasburg. Shields's division
spearheaded the march of Irwin McDowell's
corps recalled from Fredericksburg, while
Fremont's army converged on Strasburg
from the west. Jackson withdrew, narrowly
avoiding being cut off from his line of
retreat by these converging columns.
The Union armies now began a three-prong
offensive against Jackson. Fremont's troops
advanced up the Valley Turnpike while
Shields's column marched up the Luray Road
along the South Fork. At this point nearly
25,000 men were being brought to bear on
Jackson's 17,000. Jackson's cavalry
commander, Brig. Gen. Turner Ashby was killed
while fighting a rear guard action near
Harrisonburg on June 6.
Jackson concentrated his forces near the
bridge at Port Republic, situating himself
between the two Union columns that were
separated by the mountain and the
rain-swollen Shenandoah South Fork. On June
8, Fremont attacked Ewell's division at Cross
Keys but was driven back. The next morning
(June 9), Jackson with his remaining force
attacked Shields east and north of Port
Republic, while Ewell withdrew from Fremont's
front burning the bridge behind him. Ewell
joined with Jackson to defeat Shields. Both
Union forces retreated north, freeing
Jackson's army to reinforce the Confederate
army at Richmond.
In five weeks, Jackson's army had marched
more than 650 miles and inflicted more than
7,000 casualties, at a cost of only 2,500.
More importantly, Jackson's campaign had tied
up Union forces three times his strength.
Jackson's victories infused new hope and
enthusiasm for the Confederate cause, and
materially contributed to the defeat of
McClellan's campaign against Richmond.
Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign
(March-June 1862)
The First Battle of Kernstown
The Battle of McDowell
The Battle of Front Royal
The First Battle of Winchester
The Battle of Cross Keys
The Battle of Port Republic
The Gettysburg Campaign (June-July 1863)
The Battle of Second
Winchester
The Lynchburg Campaign (May-June 1864)
Battle of New Market
Battle of the Piedmont
Battle of Lynchburg
Jubal Early's Maryland Campaign (June-August
1864)
Monocacy
Fort Stevens
Cool Spring
Rutherford's Farm
Battle of Second Kernstown
Folck's Mill
Moorefield
Philip Sheridan's Valley Campaign (August
1864-March 1865)
Guard Hill
Summit Point
Smithfield Crossing
Berryville
The Battle of the Opequon
(Third Winchester)
The
Battle of Fisher's Hill
The Battle of Tom's Brook
The Battle of Cedar Creek
Battles, Actions, and Skrimishes Listed by
Year
Battles
of 1861
Battles
of 1862
Battles
of 1863
Battles
of 1864
Sheridan's Valley Campaign
Battles
of 1865
